The narrative seems to be that Hillary Clinton's debate prep involves lots of practice, while Donald Trump is going to wing it. Conventional wisdom suggests the former is wiser, but earlier today, I made a point on CNN that there are different philosophies for this.

Is Donald Trump's rise a backlash against liberal overreach? At the Atlantic,James Parker said Trump "has co-created a space in American politics that is uniquely transgressive, volatile, carnivalesque, and (from a certain angle) punk rock."

The 2016 presidential race has sucked up all of the political oxygen for months now, but it's appropriate to take some time to excoriate retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on his way out the door.

Back in 2010, there were plenty of flabby, old Republicans in Congress who had lost their way. The most efficient way for conservatives to change the system was to defeat them in the primary. Today, thanks to those efforts, there's an impressive, young crop of thoughtful conservatives already in office. The main challenge, now, is to make sure they are re-elected.

Last week, when Hillary Clinton said that "you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables...The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, [and] Islamophobic," I didn't write anything about it. '

One of the interesting subplots taking place in the internecine struggle over the future of the GOP is the battle over the future of center-right media. For as long as I can recall, there has been a dichotomy with journalists/writers on one side and bloggers and talk radio hosts, etc. on the other.

The worst gaffes confirm preexisting narratives. That's why Hillary Clinton's recent "coughing fit" matters politically. Donald Trump has taken a lot of heat for raising questions about her health, but he has planted the seed of doubt in the public's collective mindset. Sometimes a cough is just a cough, but Trump has turned this very human function into a gaffe. And now, when Clintondemonstrates any sort of frailty, she is perceived as weak.

A smart reader attended Donald Trump's rally in Phoenix, Arizona, last night and passed along the following observations. I now pass them on to you. Anyone who is interested in the Trump phenomenon --- or the future of conservatism --- would do well to read his take on the good, the bad and the ugly.

For obvious reasons, people keep trying to figure out how to ensure that the Republican presidential primary process doesn't get hijacked (again). Writing at National Review, John Noonan recently observed that "One of the GOP’s great structural weaknesses is that there’s little downside in running for president."

The 1990 movie Crazy People illustrated the humor that would ensue if we ever actually committed to truth in advertising. "Buy Volvos," the ad guys---having stumbled on the honest approach---declared. "They're boxy. But they're good."

During a recent conversation with EconTalk host Russ Roberts, author and essayist Chuck Klosterman discussed his new book But What If We're Wrong. Explaining his premise, Klosterman noted that "we sort of exist in this world where we live as if we are right about how we view reality..." But, of course, as his title suggests, we might be wrong.